goodnightdearlisteners: (Listen. Closely.)
Player Information:
Name: Lady Vincira
Age: 25
Contact: [plurk.com profile] LadyVincira
Game Cast: Rosalind Lutece from Bioshock Infinite

Character Information:
Name: Cecil Baldwin
Canon: Welcome to Night Vale
Canon Point: Just after "First Date," after he went to sleep that night.
Age: 26
Reference: http://commonplacebooks.com/welcome-to-night-vale/ - Official Website
http://nightvale.wikia.com/wiki/Cecil_(character) - Cecil's page on the WTNV Wiki

Setting:

Picture it. A scenic desert town where a warm wind blows over the dunes, a cold chill runs down your spine, and strange lights flicker high over the Arby's.

Welcome...to Night Vale.

Night Vale is a sleepy little desert town with many, many fun things for you to do or see while the Secret Police keep a watchful eye over you. Let me give you a list of things that you might want to visit while you're touring our sleepy little burg (which is SO much better than Desert Bluffs - trust me, I've been there, there was blood and viscera EVERYWHERE and it was just...really gross). You have, after all, an indefinite amount of time to do it, seeing as none of our clocks are real, and Monday has been delayed due to lack of interest. We apologize for the inconvenience.

-Visit the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Fun Complex! Indulge in a game, enjoy one dollar beer night, and be cautious about Lane 5, where there is a tiny city, populated by tiny warmongering people, approximately ten feet below a small hole near the pin retrieval unit.

-Dine at many fine establishments, such as Rico's Pizza (where the residents eat! As sanctioned by law.), Jerry's Tacos (do NOT order off of the Forsaken menu), the Arby's (ignore the strange lights), Geno's Italian Dining Experience and Restaurant and Bar, and Wendy's!

-Are you a Scientist? Join the flawless and beautiful Carlos in one of the most - according to him and I have FULL FAITH IN HIM - scientifically interesting towns in the nation. See the sights, such as crippling earthquakes that none of us can feel, a house that doesn't actually exist, and clocks that aren't actually real! Also, enjoy basking in the glow of Carlos, who is perfect in every way. He's taken, though! We're dating! That is a thing that happened recently and it. Is. WONDERFUL.

-Visit the Night Vale Public Library! I don't have to give you directions - you will simply find yourself there from time to time. But watch out for the Librarians...we've lost more than a few residents to their ravenous maws. Even Old Woman Josie and the throng of Angels that speak with her agree - the Library is...actually just a terrifying inevitability.

-Take a walk through Mission Grove Park and engage in the favorite pastime of point at the sky and screaming in horror! It's a wonderful place for dates. Did I mention that I went there with Carlos? I did. It was a wonderful night.

-We have a wonderful state-of-the-art Dog Park! Remember, only public officials and mysterious hooded figures are allowed near the Dog Park. No dogs are allowed in the Dog Park.

-Observe any major holiday with us! We have antidotes available for any holiday that comes our way, and sturdy locks on all of our doors! Everything you need for a holiday that will not kill you!

-And much more!

Remember - Night Vale! You'll probably just kind of wind up here.

---

The nature of the podcast is such that while there are plotlines, there aren't very many that directly impact Cecil as a person. There are only two that come near to that:

-During "The Sandstorm," a vortex opens in the wall of the radio station that leads into another radio station. This station is a mirror image to Cecil's, only the floors are covered in blood and teeth inches deep, the soundboard is covered in animal viscera, and the booth window is smashed open with hair and skin clinging to the shards of glass. This freaks Cecil out, as does the photo on the desk of a man who he describes as looking like him, except with eyes "black as obsidian" and a smile that is, somehow, all wrong. According to the mirror podcast, this is actually Desert Bluffs, the neighboring town that is painted as a rival to Night Vale throughout the podcast. Desert Bluffs seems to be controlled by something called "StrexCorp," but we don't have many details on that yet. The doppelgänger to Cecil is actually Kevin, the eerily cheerful host of Desert Bluff's radio show. On his way back through the vortex, Cecil is faced with Kevin, and they struggle, Cecil trying to strangle the "grotesque devil of a man" before deciding to let him go. On Kevin's end, Kevin says that they "shared a moment" and that Cecil "gave him a hug." Eesh.

-The ongoing romance with Carlos comes to a head in "One Year Later" and "First Date." In the former, Carlos almost dies, and Cecil is actually worked into helpless tears - but then he is saved, and he calls Cecil to meet him, telling him that "after everything that happened, I just wanted to see you." They go on a date a couple of weeks later, and it's very sweet and tender (despite shadows apparently taking over the town). They kiss, and Cecil is on cloud nine, reporting on the whole thing afterward. It's after this report that Cecil returns to his apartment, goes to sleep...and wakes up surrounded by Kedan.

Personality: Cecil is, despite everything he goes through, a very good-natured and cheerful man. He's remarkably optimistic for a reporter in a town where horrifying occurrences happen on the regular, and that carries through everything he does. His sensibilities are almost cartoonishly goody-goody sometimes; as dark as topics can get, you have better odds of him getting totally naked in front of you than cursing. He's not unflappable, mind you - he gets scared, upset, angry, and quite emotional on the regular. Just not about the things you might expect. He can sit and watch a man be vaporized right in front of him and shrug, but he will work himself into a froth over someone like Steve Carlsberg, who, as he repeatedly asserts, is a REAL JERK.

He's a reporter at his core, through and through, and he's going to report on whatever needs to be reported on, damn the consequences. In the show, this has gotten him into trouble with Station Management - horrific Eldritch terrors that have never been seen except through the frosted glass door of their office - and also with the Secret Police. He's mentioned being punished before, as well as being called in for "re-education," so it's clear that he doesn't always toe the line as well as he possibly could. He says too much sometimes, interjects more of his opinion than the powers-that-be would like...but attests that it's just what he has to do. He's open and forthcoming to a fault, and just looooooves to talk.

Night Vale is a town run by a draconic, all-seeing government force. The citizens are regularly faced with the arcane and the disturbing and are expected to know how to deal with these situations - and Cecil is no exception. He's probably been brainwashed a few times, and it shows sometimes when he speaks. He contradicts himself a great deal - talking about backpacking in Europe (to fictional countries) in one show, but talking about how he doesn't believe in mountains in another. It's likely because of some degree of mental programming...once in a while, he even seems to slip into strange monotones while broadcasting that he may or may not remember afterward. He's not DUMB, but he HAS been programmed to believe what he hears from government forces.

He's head over heels in love with a man named Carlos. He's been in love with Carlos since the moment he laid eyes on him and his perfect hair, and he's affectionate to the point of sounding like a high school girl whenever he talks about him. Being without Carlos is going to be hard for him, but he's not really one to mope for too long when he has things to do. Still, heartbreak is a deep wound.

It's probably worth noting that Cecil will appear to most people as completely, unabashedly insane. He's not actually crazy - it's just that his reality is much stranger than most. That won't stop him from speaking point blank and unblinking about the strangest topics you could imagine. Never mind that heartbreak can make a man do crazy things.

He's not going to be terribly bothered being on the turtle, in the grand scheme of things. Initially, he'll be upset over leaving Carlos behind, and he might fret over his lack of presence in Night Vale and what that might mean for the people who rely on his reports, but ultimately, he'll be more excited to be presented with a new opportunity than anything else. Over time, he'll definitely continue to lament the loss of Carlos, but he tends to try and keep his own negative emotions at arm's length and out of his work. He'll be full of questions, and he'll be all ready to try and set up a broadcast of sorts in his new home.

Being between life and death probably won't bug him, either, seeing as Night Vale is in a constant state of uncertainty over any number of things at any given time.


Appearance:

In canon, the only descriptions we have for certain about Cecil are that he's not tall, not short, not thin, not fat, and he wears a tie in one of his photos. Otherwise, much is inferred from bits of his broadcasts, and there is a general (and alarmingly shared) consensus among the fandom that he is blonde, with a third eye (see below for one possible source-cited explanation), and strange tattoos covering his arms that move from time to time.

He is also cited in the series as having a...unique sense of fashion, wearing his "best tunic and furry pants" to his first date with Carlos.

Putting a finer point on his appearance for RP purposes, Cecil is, despite what one might think sometimes, a human man. He's a youthful-looking man, with a very animated (if dorky) face and lovely, thick blonde hair. His bangs cover his forehead much of the time - in part because, hey, he likes this hairstyle, and also in part because it hides the functional third eye that has grown in the center of his forehead. He doesn't talk about this very much, but it's more than likely a result of him having listened to sounds that he shouldn't have. In "The Candidate," there's mention of people in Old Town Night Vale hearing "extremely noisy sunsets" that caused some of them to grow third eyes - and Cecil, being a devoted reporter, is more than likely to have gone out of his way to find out what they sounded like.

His arms are covered in weird, arcane tattoos - lots of eyes and tentacles in purple, white, black, and silver ink - that move. Not at will, mind you, they just do what they want all over his arms. He has a few odd arcane symbols carved into the flesh of his stomach, but they don't seem to bother him very much. Business as usual.


Abilities: Aside from having a very pleasant radio voice and a third eye, Cecil has no superpowers. The closest that he does have is a broad knowledge of the weird and the arcane - he's used to having to perform occult rituals even to order Subway sandwiches (that is a CANON EXAMPLE). As such, he can do some rituals, basic wards, and maybe some low level magic. (I'm talking parlor tricks - starting tiny fires, freezing a cup of water into an ice cube - lots of buildup for really unimpressive things.)

His third eye sees fine. It's in the middle of his forehead, but is otherwise a perfectly normal eye. He has 20-20-20 vision. His moving tattoos do nothing but look cool and be kinda cute.

He's got a keen investigative mind, and he loves to report on things...but his reports are more often than not a little off. His tendency to throw himself into things headfirst and believe things he is told by positions of power makes him a little unreliable, but he is decent at digging up information.

He does some sweet mimicry. His valley girl accent? Top notch. Kinda. Well, he likes to mimic people, anyhow, and at least he gets the emotions right.

Inventory: A small pouch full of bloodstones and a couple unnameable bits of bone, a comb, some spare change, a fliptop notepad, an old-fashioned tape recorder, and a wallet containing sixteen dollars, identification, and a photo of a dark-skinned, square-jawed man with beautiful hair (that was probably taken while he wasn't looking).

Suite: I think Cecil would be best off in the metal sector, because...he's pretty damn eccentric. Probably a two level suite, so that he can try and set up a recording studio on the upper floor.

In-Character Samples:
Third Person:

Pulling off his earphones, Cecil blinked the sweat from his forehead. Another hot night - typical day at the office in the middle of the desert, really. Even with the room darkened and the walls painted the customary black, it still felt often like the sun was setting behind the microphone right in the same room as he was. Thick blonde hair clung, sticky, to his head where his headphones had been pressing it down...maybe he needed a haircut?

Oh, right. Telly the Barber was still wandering the desert, covered in boils and trying to shave cacti.

Eh, he still deserved it.

Cecil paused in the doorway of his little room, looking it all over with a slightly dopey little smile on his face. Still on cloud nine. Carlos had KISSED HIM. Carlos had initiated the kiss. Carlos. Liked. Him. He was still processing that bit of information. He'd spent the better part of a year pining after the perfect man...spent many a night lying awake and wondering if Carlos even LIKED him.

Now he knew. He knew for sure.

Heart fluttering at the memory of the kiss, he meandered around the station, shutting things down and humming a cheerful little tune. Hey, it wasn't too bad. Maybe one of these he should perform the Weather himself! Maybe even write a song about Carlos? Or would that sound just too desperate?

"That would be...too much," he chuckled out loud, rubbing his arm with his thumb and watching his tattoos roil under his touch. It was getting late - he needed to go home and get his beauty sleep. After all...who knew what tomorrow would bring?

Grinning around his studio, Cecil strolled out with an easy gait, all three eyes trained upon the future.

Network:

[The feed clicks on to reveal a young man with bright eyes - three of them - smiling and looking right into the lens. His voice is very, very nice...smooth, sure. He's used to talking. That will never change.]

Good evening, Tu Vishan! I have a question for you all. Now, you don't have to answer right away - why would you? I can't even hear you until you turn on your feeds!

Anyhow, my question. Really mull it over. Do any of you have tattoos? And if you do - have you really sat down and talked to them about what being on the turtle MEANS for them?

[He has all the seriousness of a man telling people to have a serious talk with their children. He leans forward, as if confiding deeply to the camera.]

I mean it, I really do. You might not have the same kind of lotions available here. The climate may be different. They may see more light, they may see less light...maybe they'll see hardly any light at all. Are they cold? Are they too hot? Is it too humid for them? Too dry?

I mean, hey. It's not my place to tell you how to treat your tattoos, right? I mean, I'm just some guy! What do I know? Well, I'm here to tell you, it is worth the time and effort to make sure your tattoos are okay. You'd be upset if they were unhappy, right? I had the talk with mine right after I got here - and look!

[He holds up his arms, rolling back sleeves - to reveal shifting violet, silver, white, and black tattoos of various strange designs. The tentacles are writhing across his skin, the eyes are blinking, the arcane symbols are...arcaning. He doesn't seem to think this is at all odd.]

See?

Look how happy they are!

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Cecil Gershwin Palmer

January 2014

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